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The State of the Union and Health, a Story of OCD, and Recovering Looted Art

During last night’s State of the Union speech, President Obama called for state and federal legislation expanding paid sick days and family leave for workers. We look at how California’s laws could be a template for new national policies. The president also talked about “personalized medicine.” What is it?

FROM THIS EPISODE

During last night’s State of the Union Speech, President Obama called for state and federal legislation expanding paid sick days and family leave for workers. We look at how California’s laws could be a template for new national policies. The president also talked about “personalized medicine.” What is it, and is it the future of healthcare? Then, the Islamist extremist group ISIS is threatening to kill two Japanese hostages if Japan doesn’t pay a $200 million ransom by Friday. What are the government’s options? Journalist David Adam talks about his new book, a memoir about his own struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. And finally, a family that’s been fighting the Norton Simon Museum over paintings that were plundered by Nazis during World War II. What’s at stake in the case, and what could it mean for other artworks around the country with similar histories?

Banner Image: President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in Washington, as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio look on. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

In last night’s State of the Union Speech, President Obama called for state and federal legislation expanding paid sick and family leave for workers. Here in California, many of us already have those things. But what are the chances of national legislation? And what’s holding us back from it?

Also in last night’s State of the Union, the President talked about “personalized medicine.” It’s a form of medical care that would take into account each patient’s individual genetic makeup. We hear more about what it is, how close it is to becoming the norm and how it would work.

The Islamic extremist group ISIS has said it will kill two Japanese captives if Japan doesn’t pay a $200 million ransom by Friday. ISIS released a video of the two hostages kneeling down in orange jumpsuits, with a masked militant waving a knife around them, demanding the money. The eerie images are similar to other videos released by the group before the executions of four Western hostages last year. How are the Japanese public and government reacting?

In the early 19th century, an 18-year-old woman known as Mademoiselle F. was walking home from her aunt’s house when she suddenly thought, what if she’d stolen something from her aunt? She hadn’t, but the thought kicked off an all-consuming obsession that eventually drove her to extreme measures to prevent herself from stealing. Mademoiselle F. was the first documented case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. Nowadays it affects up to three percent of the population. Journalist David Adam is part of that statistic, and his new book about the disorder is called The Man Who Couldn’t Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought.

Guests:David Adam, author, 'The Man Who Couldn’t Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought' (@davidneiladam)

Seventy years ago, as the Nazis rolled through Europe, they plundered art from museums, galleries and private collections. Today, the owners of about 100,000 stolen pieces of art are still trying to get them back, and one family has gotten a small step closer. Yesterday, they scored a legal victory against Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum, and the case could have a ripple effect on similar cases throughout the country.

Guests:Michael Boehm, co-chair of the e4 Mobility Alliance at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation